Trump’s Jan. 6 certification marks political comeback

President-elect Trump’s political comeback is set to be sealed on Monday as Congress certifies his election victory, a full 180 degree turn from four years ago, when he sat stewing in the White House as his supporters violently stormed the Capitol.

Trump has spent the past four years seeking to rewrite the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters tried to halt the certification of his defeat to President Biden. On the campaign trail, he repeatedly referred to it as a “day of love,” and he has referred to those arrested for their actions that day as “hostages” and vowed to pardon them immediately upon taking office this month.

Monday will create a sense of vindication for Trump’s team as he prepares to return to office, and will deliver another blow to Trump critics who had hoped voters would see his inaction during the riot and his rhetoric in the years since as disqualifying.

Spokespeople for Trump did not respond to questions about whether he plans to watch the proceedings unfold in real time on Monday. He is expected to be at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement accused the media of refusing “to report the truth about what happened that day” and decried the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as “one of the greatest political scams in history.”

“The American people did not fall for the Left’s fear mongering over January 6th,” Leavitt said in a statement. “They re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin because they want him to unify our country through success, and that’s exactly what he will do.”

The events of Jan. 6, 2021, have lingered on for years and were central to the 2024 campaign. Trump was nearly exiled from the GOP over his rhetoric that preceded the violence and his refusal to unequivocally condemn those who stormed the Capitol as it unfolded.

He and his allies have railed against investigations into Jan. 6 and his efforts to remain in power, including a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., that was dropped after November’s election.

Trump on the campaign trail repeatedly sought to rewrite the history of the day’s violence. He bragged about the size of the Jan. 6 crowd, called it a “day of love” and said protesters that day had “love in their heart.” At multiple Trump rallies, a rendition of the national anthem sung by those imprisoned for their actions that day played over the speakers. And pardoning those charged in connection with Jan. 6 was a major campaign pledge.

Biden, meanwhile, delivered remarks at the Capitol on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack and spoke repeatedly about how he felt Trump posed a threat to democracy, making it a core argument of his reelection bid before stepping aside in late July.

He has also made the events that day part of his final days in office, awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Jan. 6 panel, and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who also served on the committee. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will acknowledge the events of Jan. 6 in some form on Monday, even as he is slated to travel to New Orleans following a deadly attack there.

“Nothing has changed, and I think this is a president that has spoken multiple times in the last four years and beyond about democracy, the importance of democracy, protecting our democracy, and so I would expect that he will continue to be steadfast on that,” Jean-Pierre said.

Vice President Harris did not always emphasize the threat Trump posed to democracy on the same scale Biden did, though she still delivered her closing argument of the campaign from the Ellipse near the White House, the same place where Trump spoke to supporters the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.

Still, her position as vice president will put her in the awkward position of having to certify the election win of a candidate who beat her in November.

In the past, members of both parties have used the certification process to challenge election results. Some House Democrats sought to challenge Trump’s win in 2017, but failed to get any senators to back the cause. But in 2021, numerous Republicans, including senators, challenged the results during the 2021 certification process, which was halted by rioters who entered the Capitol.

On Monday, however, there is not expected to be much pushback against certifying Trump’s victory, where he won both the Electoral College vote and the popular vote. House Democrats have indicated they will not challenge the results, with some wary of protests undercutting their warnings about threats to democracy.

Still, Trump and other Republicans have signaled they will not simply turn the page from the efforts by Democrats to put a spotlight on Jan. 6. Trump on Friday railed against Biden for honoring Cheney and Thompson and called members of the House panel that investigated Jan. 6 “thugs.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) posted on X that House Republicans would fully fund investigations into the actions of the Jan. 6 committee in the new Congress.

Monday has been designated as a national security special event, marking the first time that label has been applied to an election certification, law enforcement officials said at a public safety briefing on Friday.

The designation makes the Secret Service the lead agency for planning and implementing security efforts and frees up additional federal and local resources. The National Guard will have 500 soldiers on standby to potentially assist with securing the election certification.

Tom Manger, chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said at Friday’s briefing that the agency is “better staffed, better trained, better equipped than ever before to protect our Capitol and to protect our Congress.”

An inspector general report following the Jan. 6 attack four years ago made 103 recommendations about changes and improvements the Capitol Police should undertake. Manger said Monday the agency had completed each one.

“As our nation struggles to maintain a sense of safety in light of recent mass killings and acts of terrorism, the eyes of the world will be on the United States capitol to see what happens here on Jan. 6,” Manger said.